Residents near facility have nothing to fear, MOH calls for compassion

The Ministry of Health is allaying the fears of residents in Sange Grande who have expressed concern about a quarantine facility being set up in their neighbourhood.

Residents of Brooklyn Settlement in Sangre Grande said that while they were alerted, they were not consulted.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Roshan Parasram explained that the health authorities in the area will be speaking with the residents in due course.

“The CEO of that region will lead a team that gives sensitisation to the population of that specific area through community meetings and the handing out of flyers,” he said.

Parasram added that the people being lodged at this facility will pose no risk to the residents.

“There’s no risk of spread to any member of the population in that jurisdiction. We go to lengths to ensure that the site is so laid out that there’s a certain distance between the edge of the property and even the dwellings within so that there can be no spread,” he explained.

Reinforcing Dr Parasram, Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh called for compassion to be shown to those on the road to recovery from COVID-19.

“The watchwords of this country are discipline, production and the third one is tolerance. If we live by those watchwords, we are trying to treat citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. These are people in their time of need. (They) are looking to communities to treat them humanely and with respect. I would like to think that we could rise to the occasion,” he implored.

Deyalsingh says despite how things may seem, no one would have knowingly put themselves in this situation.

“The people who have COVID-19 did not bring it upon themselves and we have to be compassionate at this time, as I know we can. We have to be our brothers’ keeper, as I know we can,” he added.

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